How to make an appointment at the American Embassy. USA visa interview. Step-by-step procedure - when dates appear

Should I wait for an appointment with the US Embassy?

This week, an information seminar was held by the Consular Service of the US Embassy, ​​organized for travel agencies, during which we managed to talk with the head of the non-immigrant visa department and ask those questions that concern everyone.

Since September 1, the issuance of US visas has been reduced. Three regional consulates in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok have completely stopped their work on issuing visas and are only processing applications for re-obtaining visas without passing interviews. Thousands of applicants have had their appointments canceled at the Embassies by submitting an appropriate application for the need to assign a new appointment.

• The number of applications that the Embassy can process has been reduced. Accordingly, the number of available places for recording has also decreased. The State Department immediately warned that Russians, on average, would have to wait for an interview for the B1 / B2 visa category - business / tourism for almost three months - 85 days.
• A record was introduced for filing documents for extending a visa to the United States (previously, documents could be submitted on any business day).
• The period during which it is possible to apply for a second visa has been reduced - from 47 months to 11.

So, let's summarize the results of the meeting

How is an appointment made at the US Embassy now?
At the moment, when assigning an appointment to the US Embassy, ​​the priorities are as follows:
1. Diplomatic visas
2. Student and work visas
3. Urgent visas (at the same time, urgency should be understood not as the inability to plan, but trips associated with the need for urgent medical care, for a funeral or other unforeseen circumstances.).
4. Business and tourist visas

When should we expect the recording to open in standard mode?
The US Embassy in Moscow conducts about 250 interviews daily. Only a small part of these interviews, taking into account the gradation above, relate to tourist visas. Standard Entry is now opening with very limited slots and only for those applicants whose interviews were canceled prior to September 1st. Embassy staff expect to process the applications of these citizens until about September 2018. Until this time, the entry for those applicants who apply for a visa for the first time will not be available (We do not take into account employees of companies that are registered with the American Chamber of Commerce and have separate opportunity records).

How to apply for a second visa to the United States without an interview?
If your visa is about to expire, hurry up to apply for a second visa without a Drop-Box interview. Registration for filing is conducted not only (and not so much) in Moscow, but also in St. Petersburg, Vladivostok and Yekaterinburg. You do not need to send documents to the regional Embassies on your own. You can submit the documents on the day according to the appointment at the Pony Express office and they will arrange delivery to the desired Embassy.
If you are called for an interview, then it will be possible to pass an interview only at the Moscow Embassy - several slots in your personal account will be opened for you to make an appointment.

Anyone wishing to visit the United States of America must. This procedure takes place in several stages, the most important of which is an interview at the US Embassy. If you are, then in some cases you can do without visiting the embassy in 2020. Citizens of Russia today can sign up for an interview only in neighboring countries: Georgia, Belarus, Latvia and others.

An example of a paid receipt of the consular fee

The next step is necessary. On the website of the embassy you can find this form and familiarize yourself with the rules for filling it out. Please note that the correct filling of the questionnaire is extremely important. Once the questionnaire has been sent, it will not be possible to make any amendments.

If you have any questions during the filling process, contact an interpreter or a qualified attorney. The consulate's call center does not deal with questions about filling out questionnaires. Save the application number: you may also need it at the interview.

The next step will be an appointment for an interview at the US Embassy. This procedure can be carried out through the call center or on the website of the embassy.

An entry can be made by indicating the applicant's passport data, the number of the receipt confirming the payment of the consular fee, as well as the ten-digit cipher code of the applicant's questionnaire DS-160.

In the process of making an appointment for a personal conversation at the embassy, ​​it is possible to decide on the choice of a visa, indicate your personal data, indicate your family members and indicate the place where documents will need to be delivered in case of obtaining a visa. Registration for an interview takes no more than five minutes.

After receiving information with the date and time of the future interview, prepare Required documents.

Preparing for an interview

The most common interview question is what questions will the inspector ask? The interview is the final and most important step in obtaining a US visa, and most people want to come prepared for this interview. You do not need to write all possible questions, come up with answers to them and memorize them. Unfortunately, this always creates a not too pleasant impression and an unnecessarily nervous environment, which harms the result.

The inspector checks the adequacy foreign citizen and his willingness to comply with the rules and regulations, in particular with regard to immigration policy.

Questions should be answered truthfully, confidently and easily. Do not be verbose and try to be overly persuasive. As experienced travelers say, a visa is most readily given to those who demonstrate a slight indifference and for all outward signs can do without a visa.

It is necessary to think over the travel program as best as possible - the story about it should be short, concise, integral and as consistent as possible. If the interlocutor is confused, the officer may refuse to obtain a visa.

Interview Questions

What do consular officers ask?

About the trip

Questions about the upcoming trip can be very difficult for an unprepared person. Do not speak at random, it is best to make a trip plan in advance in order to navigate the dialogue with the inspector. It is necessary to confidently operate not only with travel dates, but also with the names of places that you want to visit. The officer may be interested in some small nuances, no need to be scared, rather confidently describe his thoughts and ideas on this matter.

About work

The inspector may be interested labor activity a foreign citizen who came for an interview. This is no more difficult than a regular dialogue about work, with the only difference that you need to remember - whatever you want to say about your work, wages and the activities of the company, it is worth adhering to the idea that a visa is given to those who are going to return to their homeland. Salary, company activities, work experience - all this may be of interest to a consular officer.

Increasingly, the US Embassy in the interview pays attention to the family, issues of close family ties. If a person goes on a trip, leaving his family at home, it is better to say so. There may also be a question about relatives in America and their status.

About money

Or about the sponsor of the trip, if another person pays for it. Confirmation of financial stability should be in any case. If the trip will be paid for by yourself, then a bank statement will suffice, if the sponsor will pay for it, then in addition to bank documents, a letter of intent from the sponsor will also be required.

About the host

If from relatives or any organization, you need to be ready to provide documents confirming this and be able to explain the importance of this trip.

About language skills

This is a very sensitive issue. Of course, the traveler does not need to have deep knowledge of English language, but when traveling independently, this question may arise.

About honesty

It is important to remember that the questions must be answered truthfully and consistently - this will help not to get confused yourself and not to confuse the consular officer. It is also important to remember that all answers in a personal dialogue with the inspector must match the answers on the DS-160 form. Otherwise, unnecessary questions may arise.

Do you have data on how many people did this?

No, we do not have such statistics. But I can assure you that there were many such people. Russians adapt very well to difficult circumstances. This is also evidenced by the fact that in many countries, for example, in the Baltic countries, visa processing was made part of the tour package.

Probably, those applicants out of 17,000 who needed to urgently fly to the United States could do the same. For example, one famous ballet troupe issued their visas in Bulgaria, which they visited on tour. The same applies to athletes and crew members of Aeroflot. Generally, at the request Russian government, we made a small exception: we provided 120 places for interviews for athletes and Aeroflot employees. However, unfortunately, only 60 of them eventually showed up for an interview.

We were contacted by tourists who had already paid the consular fee, but had not yet had time to sign up for an interview, as well as those whose interview was automatically canceled. And they still can't sign up. Is it possible that these people will lose their money and lose the opportunity to get a visa?

This is out of the question. The payment of the consular fee is valid for a year after payment, so these people need to contact our call center and set a new date for the interview. It is very unlikely that the person who paid the fee will not be able to get an interview within a year. To date, we have dealt with most of the people who rescheduled the interview date and opened the record for new applicants. But still, those applicants who have already paid the consular fee and have been waiting all this time remain in priority. Those applicants out of 17 thousand who have not yet re-registered and received a visa in another country fall into the same category. If such a visa applicant calls us at the last moment, i.e. 364 days have passed since the payment of the consular fee, then a problem may arise, but we will still try to find time and accept it.

Have you already started interviewing new applicants? When can we expect stable availability of recording slots?

At the end of September, we resumed the provision of visa services at our consulates in St. Petersburg, Vladivostok and Yekaterinburg for those who did not require an interview. At the same time, we in Moscow accepted applicants from among those 17,000 who had signed up earlier. In December, we resumed recording for interviews at all US consulates in Russia and opened an appointment for an interview. We are constantly working on what we can do to process as many applications as possible.

It's like a tractor assembly line - as soon as we find an opportunity to increase efficiency, we do it. We learn from colleagues - US embassies around the world - and compete with them in efficiency. We organize our activities based on modern realities. We are evaluating the level of demand for visas and are looking to add interview slots whenever possible. For example, we see that the number of US visa requests has continued to rise since the fall of 2016.

What advice would you give to those applying for a visa today?

Keep checking our site. Even someone who has not yet completed the questionnaire can check the estimated waiting time for an interview. Because the work is structured as follows - we can open places for recording for an interview only for the coming months. This is due to uncertainty. It is not clear what will happen tomorrow. We have to take into account many factors. In addition, at the moment when we have a change of consular officers, we cannot open new places for recording interviews, because there will be no one to conduct them until new person not coming. Naturally, free places quickly run out.

You have probably been asked this more than once, but I will ask again. What do you think about whatincrease in the number of failures in visas for Russian citizens from 9 to 11% last year?

This figure floats every year, as it directly depends on the total number of visa applicants. It will never coincide with last year: today the figure has increased, next year it may decrease. A number is a kind of snapshot of a changing situation. I don't think a 2% increase is statistically significant. Yes, it can be turned into a spectacular newspaper headline, as some publications have already done. But this is only one side of the coin.

I assure you, this has nothing to do with the political situation. At least, I have not given such orders to anyone and have not received such orders from Washington. In August, no one told me from above: “Okay, let's punish these Russians!” A visa officer cannot suddenly decide: “I will refuse all applicants in white sweaters” or “I will refuse every sixth applicant, because today is Tuesday.” The reasons for refusal of a visa are very strictly regulated and have clear criteria for compliance with the law. We have developed mechanisms that allow us to control the validity of these decisions and cancel them if they are taken unreasonably.

Lastly, what advice would you give applicants to avoid failing an interview? Especially now, when the rates have increased even more due to the long wait, and the waiting time for an interview in Moscow is 100 days.

Firstly, do not delay until the last day, start applying for a visa in advance. The interview procedure today is different from the procedure thirty years ago. Then we were skeptical about every applicant, and if someone did not have a detailed travel plan, this caused the visa officer to doubt and he could refuse a visa. We don't work like that anymore. People no longer need to put off filing until they know all the details. For example, if you are planning to attend a conference in next year, you do not need to provide any papers confirming participation in the conference or hotel reservation. You must demonstrate to the visa officer two things: that you have a reason to go to the US and that you intend to return to your country. There was such a case when one of the participants in the Summer Work & Travel program, who was going to work in the USA as a pool lifeguard, was asked at a visa interview: “When did you learn to swim?” To which he replied, "I can't." In such cases, we cannot be sure that the applicant is telling the truth about their intentions in the US and actually qualifies.

But my main advice: do not buy non-refundable tickets. They have caused so many problems for so many people! If you have not memorized everything that I have said before, then let this be the only advice that you must remember for sure!

Image copyright Novoderejkin Anton/TASS

Signing up for an interview in Russia, which is mandatory for an American visa, has been impossible for a month now. Now, Russians go abroad for a visa and resort to the help of agencies.

At the end of July, the Russian Foreign Ministry demanded that by September 1, the United States reduce the staff of its diplomatic mission by more than half.

The consequences of this diplomatic spat are experienced by Russians who want to get a visa to the United States. The American side announced that due to a shortage of staff, it is no longer conducting mandatory visa interviews at consulates in Vladivostok, Yekaterinburg and St. Petersburg.

Thus, now those who apply for a US visa for the first time are forced to register only at the Moscow consulate. As a result, a line formed at the American embassy in Moscow for many months ahead.

Now, according to the testimonies of many applicants, it is generally impossible to sign up for an interview in Moscow. If at the beginning of September it was possible to sign up at least for the end of November or December, now for a month now the site has been responding to applicants that there are no places.

Can I apply for a visa in another country?

This is exactly what some Russians are doing now. For visas, they go to neighboring states - to Ukraine, Georgia and the Baltic countries. So did the Muscovite Valentin (name changed) - he and his wife went to Kyiv.

Image copyright Zuma/TASS

Usually, after the interview, the passport is returned within a few working days. Just a day later, Valentin and his wife received passports with new visas. But in rare cases, the embassy begins additional administrative processing, which can last up to 60 days - and then you will have to sit in a foreign country without getting out for two months until the passport is returned from the embassy.

Evgenia went from Moscow to Latvia especially for the sake of a visa - at the same time she stayed in Riga for the weekend. At the Latvian consulate, you can have an interview in Russian - almost everywhere else you need to be prepared for an interview in English.

In the USA, Evgenia was going to go to the congress of the Association of Slavists, but in the end she would have to participate in it via Skype - she was refused a visa.

Traveling for a visa - is it expensive?

Such trips are expensive. Valentin and his wife spent 20 thousand rubles only on the road to Kyiv and back.

Zhenya from Moscow spent 45 thousand rubles to get a visa. The price includes tickets to Tbilisi and back, a hotel, as well as the services of an agency that accompanies such travelers for visas.

Georgia is one of the cheapest destinations in the near abroad, entry is visa-free and prices are low, Evgeny explains. They promised to return the passport to him in 4-5 working days after the interview, but he stayed in Georgia for ten, combining the receipt of a visa with a vacation.

Agencies to help obtain a visa existed even before the reduction in the staff of the American diplomatic mission. They helped people from those cities where there were no consulates, or those who were afraid not to cope with the English form on the official website for applying for a visa.

Agencies also pay the consular fee, because you can sign up for an interview only after payment, and for filing in Georgia, for example, the fee must be paid at a Georgian bank.

However, the agency is unlikely to take less than 5-7 thousand rubles, and at the same time you can easily do without it. To do this, you either need to travel to the country twice, or simply find a friend there who would be ready to go to a local bank and pay a fee.

Is it more difficult to get a visa in a third country than in Russia?

It was possible to apply for a visa outside the country of citizenship even before the collapse in the Moscow consulate. Russians leaving the Russian cold for Indonesia and Thailand, students studying abroad, and in general Russians from all over the world have been receiving American visas at local embassies for many years.

Image copyright Mudraz Alexandra/TASS

True, those who apply for it at home are more likely to get a visa.

"We recommend that applicants apply for a visa in the country permanent residence or in the country of which they are a citizen, since being in this country is the easiest way to demonstrate your ties with it," the official website for obtaining visas says.

This is necessary for the American side to make sure that the tourist is not going to stay in the US illegally.

Is it possible to resubmit documents in another country?

If a person has already registered on the Russian version of the official website for obtaining visas, then in order to apply for a visa in another country - for example, in Ukraine - he needs to transfer his account from a Russian site to Ukrainian, and this can only be done by the technical support of the site.

Moreover, the consular fee paid in Russia will be lost, the money cannot be returned. It is 160 dollars, which is a little more than 10 thousand rubles at the rate that the embassy assigns for applicants.

And if you get an American visa again?

Those who receive an American visa again are in a better position. They can do this without an interview - just submit documents through a special Pony Express office if no more than 11 months have passed since the expiration of the previous visa. There are such offices in 96 cities of Russia - however, in the overloaded consulate in Moscow, the appointment is already closed even for the delivery of documents.

However, you can sign up for filing in other cities - St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok. Documents can be sent to another city through the same office and in a week or two receive a passport at home by courier.

Typically, an American tourist visa is issued for three years. However, those who now go to another country for a visa should take into account that because of this, in three years they will still have to go for an interview at the Russian consulate. Re-obtaining a visa without an interview only works if both visas are obtained in the same country.